Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association

MAY 13, 2023

IN MEMORIAM: PROFESSOR JOHAN S. MASJHUR

Emeritus Professor Johan S. Masjhur (1942-2023) left us on Saturday May 13, 2023.

Prof. Johan S. Masjhur is an Emeritus Professor at the Unpad Faculty of Medicine. Born in Payakumbuh, West Sumatra, on 28 February 1942, he studied at the Medical Faculty of Padjadjaran University and graduated in 1968.

Then he graduated as Specialist in Internal Medicine in 1976 and received Master’s degree at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine University of Utrecht and served at the Department of Endocrinology Medical Faculty University of Utrecht, The Netherlands (1978-1979). He appointed as Diabetes Consultant in 1991 and received Doctor of Medicine in September 1993 from Padjadjaran University, Bandung and appointed as Professor of Nuclear Medicine in January 1995. He was chosen as the Father of Nuclear Medicine in Indonesia by the Indonesian Nuclear Medicine Association in 2012.

He also held important positions in scientific societies of both Indonesia and abroad, such as, Founder of the Indonesian Thyroid Association, Honorary Editor of Indonesian Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, Vice President and Emeritus Board Member of the Asia Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA), Honorary Fellow of the Asia Oceania Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology, and Founder and Advisory Committee of the Cooperative Council Asian Regional Nuclear Medicine (ARCCNM).

He was a renowned physician and teacher in field of thyroidology and nuclear medicine and his scientific legacy lives with us.

As members of AOTA, we convey our deepest condolences to the grieving family.

May he rest in peace in heaven.

Asia & Oceania Thyroid Association

The 16^th International Thyroid Congress Sketch

December 16 – 20, 2020, China

The 16^th International Thyroid Congress (ITC) was held in China, between December 16 through 20, 2020.

The 16th ITC was hosted by the Asia & Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA) and Chinese Society of Endocrinology (CSE), Chinese Medical Association (CMA). It was co-sponsored by sister societies Latin American Thyroid Society (LATS), European Thyroid Association (ETA) and American Thyroid Association (ATA). The congress was originally planned to be held in Xi’an, China in September, 2020. Due to the pandemic of COVID-19, it was eventually held as a virtual conference in December 2020.

Members of program organizing committee were Weiping Teng (Chair, AOTA, China), Chao Liu (AOTA, China), Minho Shong (AOTA, Korea), Masanobu Yamada (AOTA, Japan), Gabriela Brenta (LATS, Argentina), Claudia Pellizas (LATS, Argentina), José Augusto Sgarbi (LATS, Brazil), Duncan Bassett (ETA, UK), Anita Boelen (ETA, Netherlands), George Kahaly (ETA, Germany), Laura Fugazzola (ETA, Italy), Dagmar Führer (ETA, Germany), Sheue-yann Cheng (ATA, USA), Susan Mandel (ATA, USA) and Ralph P. Tufano (ATA, USA). Key members of local organizing committee were Jiajun Zhao (LOC Chair), Yiming Mu (LOC Co-Chair), Zhongyan Shan, Chao Liu and Bingyin Shi.

The concept of the 16^th ITC meeting was “INTERDISPLINARY”. The program organizing committee contributed to a high-level scientific program. The program included 1 session regarding recent advances in thyroidology (4 lectures delivered by Robin Peeters, Gregory A. Brent, Fereidoun Azizi and Ana Luiza Maia, respectively), 12 plenary lectures (delivered by Zhongyan Shan, Fabian Pitoia, Anthony Hollenberg, Rosella Elisei, Yaron Tomer, Denise Pires de Carvalho, Greg Randolph, Ki-Wook Chung, Graham Williams, Jiajun Zhao, Ralf Paschke and Mikio Watanabe), 26 symposium sessions (80 lectures) and 3 award lectures (awarded by AOTA, ETA and ATA, respectively). Three awardees announced at this congress were Paul Yen (AOTA), Antonio Bianco (ETA) and Nadia Schoenmakers (ATA). The “INTERDISPLINARY” concept was reflected by cross-talks between different disciplines in symposium sessions, from basics science to translational research to various clinical perspectives.

The congress provided a great platform for international endocrine specialists, surgeons and other health professionals to present and discussed the up-to-date research and developments in thyroidology. Ninety-nine speakers were from 18 countries, and were members of AOTA (33), LATS (17), ETA (19), ATA (25) and non-society members (5). The number of registered participants was 1 190 from 45 countries. The congress videos had received over 25 000 hits as of March 31, 2021.

The 16^th ITC congress was closed following the announcement that we would meet again in the 17^th International Thyroid Congress, June 18-22, 2025 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.